The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-05
PROTEsTANTIsM IN MEXICO.
The Hard Field in Which American Mis-
sionaries Have Been Struggling.

70 Inc nara t1clQ IN w ulCn AMERICAN MIS-
sionaries Have Been Struggling.
, Ctyof Merico Letter to the ST. Louis Globe
Democrat.
Professionalism has not made great prog
rcss in Mexico, and this is rather surpris-
ing. Tho Mexican people overthrow the
Church power in politics, banished the
Jesuits, the Dominicans and other orders
and drove the nuns from the converts at the
bayonet's point They confiscated the prop
erty of the church, appropriated the tresa-
ures of the altar and in many ways mani
| tested disapprobatiOn with the long -eStab-
lished religion Of the country Would it not
be supposed naturally, that after such an
upheaval, such pronounced manifestation
of sentiments, here would be field ripe for
the harvest Representations of denomIna-
tions which were in sympathy with the re-
form movement thought so, and came to
Mexico to offer these people new religion.
But what a welcome they received. They
were stoned and prosecuted, and after many
years of struggling are just obtaining foot
hold. In this population of lO,0O0,00O PEG
pie there are about 5000 Methodtsts and
perhaps as many Presbyterians The rest
are Catholics or nothing, An attempt was
made to found Reformed Christian Church
when the Liberal party gained the ascen-
dency and carried out its sweeping measures
of reform. This new Church movement
had its origin here, and it promised for
time to develop into something important.
The membership ran up to G,000 but it fell
off TO one-fourth that and now little is heard
of it.
BITTER OPPOSITION.
The Mexicans are prejudiced against mis-
| sionarles, and show their feeling in various
ways. All the progress made by either
| Presbyterians or Methodists has been by the
hardest kind of work. Corresponding effort
s,,t GtnNn harr
greater result With a few exceptions,
buildings occupied by the missionary
churches formerly belonged to religious or
ders, and were included in the property
confiscated in 1857, but that fact can hardly
account for the prejudice against Protes
tantism, for the former church property
| is used in many other ways without
any manifestation of sentiment on the sub
ject.
The property which the Methodists own
and occupy as the headquarters for their
denomination in Mexico was once the clois-
tiers of the convent of San Francisco. 1t
is in the heart of the city, just across the
street from the Iturbide and Jardin Hotels.
and, rs a real estate speculation, commands
| the admiration of unbelevers. The place
was bought for something like $4,000, at a
! time when values were very low, aud is
worth nearly ten times that sum.
The ''ex-convent," as they say here in
! speaking of such property, has had a strange
| history since the cOntiscatiOn. 1t was sold
to parties who put a temporary roof over
! the large court and conducted a circus there
| for quite a period Then it became a thea.
| tire, and when the hall of Congress at the
! National Palace was burned, the Mexican
| Deputies held their sessions in the covered
| court. AS the chanting of the nuns had
| been succeeded by the ''whoop las of the
ringmaster, so the brief strut of the actor
was soon over and political eloquence awoke
| the echoes in the corridors. But the Depu-
ties moved to another theatre, and again the
clown had his say. The second circus COM
| pany failed, and then it was that representa-
| tives of the Methodist Missionary Board
made an offer for the property and secured
it. The building has been transformed
somewhat. A permanent roof was placed
| over the court, and what was the open patio
! is now the audience-room.
THE METHoDIsTs BEGINNING.
Rev. DIR. William Butler, writer of re-
| pute III the Church, and formerly of India,
| was the founder of the mission in 1873, and
the late Bishop Gilbert Haven spent some
time here assisting and counseling in the
| work of organization The present head of
the Methodist missionary work in Mexico is
| the son of the founder, Rev. John w. But
| Ter, broad-shouldered, energetic, fearless
| man. who joins business-like methods with
his religious conviction. When resident
| Americans speak well of missionary he is
pretty sure to be rather superior person
John Butler as they call him, for the
| American in Mexico is seldom reverent, is
very popular with the colony. His Chris
| tianity is of the practical order, as many an
| impecunious and fever-smitten countryman
| has found out.
In the old convent building, which consti-
tutues the missionary headquarters Of the
| Methodists for all Mexico, are church, a
chapel, boys school, a printing Office and
the residences of the pastor, the presiding
| elder and the native preacher. Mr. Butler
has under his charge here in the City of
Mexico an English-speaking congregation
and Sunday school, two native congrega-
tions, two Mexican schools, and besides
| these duties he looks after the publication
work of the mission and holds the purse
| strings.
A CoME-TO-sTAY POLICY.
The Methodist policy in Mexico has been
| to take hold of the important centres, and,
as soon as possible, secure good properties.
! This gives the work a look of permanency
and inspires confidence on the part of the
| natives that the missionaries have come to
stay. The next place to which attention
was given after the foothold was secured at
| the capital was Puebla, the so-called City of
| Angels. There part of the old lnquisi-
| ton property was purchased. 1t was, at
| the time, in possession of a Hebrew who had
| no SDtCldl love LOT HOIndIllsil OF fGOUtSJdnl-
| ism but who could see no difference between
the clink of missionary dollar and a sec
ular coin. The Hebrew sold to DR.. Butler,
who turned the Inquisition quarters into
chapel, school and dwelling house. The
Puebla mission has outgrown its building
and larger place has been secured near the
centre of the city.
After Puebla, the Methodists turned their
attention TO the mining city of Pachuca. A
site was purchased and two school houses
and a church were built upon it,
OriZaba in the State of Vera Cruz, was
the next location, and good property was
secured there. When the Mexican Central
was built through, the field thus opened was
entered and missions were established at
Queretaro and Guanaiuato in properties
purchased for the church. At Mirahores, "A
manufacturing village about thirty miles
from the City of Mexico, location was Sc
cured, and upon it has been erected the first.
church built after the style of American
places of worship in Mexico.
THE FIELD DIVIDED.
The two American boards which have I'M
dertaSen the work of establishing Protest
| autiSm i'm MaNtpp haVn upne M IL IN fairs,